Disqualification case filed vs Jonvic Remulla over alleged vote-buying

A new disqualification case against Cavite gubernatorial candidate Jonvic Remulla alleges he committed vote-buying when his staff distributed P200 to each of the people who attended his campaign rally in Bacoor.

In a petition filed Wednesday, Efepania Sunico, a Cavite voter, urged the Commission on Elections to remove Remulla's name from the official list of gubernatorial candidates in the province for the upcoming midterm elections.

Her petition alleged that Remulla's staff handed out brown envelopes containing P200 and Remulla campaign t-shirts to the people who attended his political rally in the plaza in Barangay Zapote 5, Bacoor City.

The attendees had earlier been given wrist bands or paper bracelets and enticed to attend the event on a promise that "they will surely receive something in return," the petition alleged.

The alleged acts were done to "influence" the voters "into voting for him in the coming elections," the filing said.

The Omnibus Election Code prohibits vote-buying among other election offenses. It is punishable by one to six years in prison and by disqualification to hold public office and deprivation of the right to vote.

The police Criminal Investigation and Detection Group is investigating an alleged vote-buying incident in the same barangay in Cavite, where 10 people were arrested over the weekend.

Remulla claimed the people arrested were his poll watchers. —LDF, GMA News